Arguably the most intense player vs. team rivalry in college basketball did not disappoint on the court, and it sure as heck didn’t disappoint at the sportsbooks. Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes’ rematch with Angel Reese and LSU from last year’s Women’s National Championship Game proved to be the biggest betting game in NCAAW history for Caesars, BetMGM, bet365 and DraftKings.
Clark and Reese made headlines last year thanks to some good-natured but pointed trash talk leading up to and following the championship, which LSU won. This year, however, when the two squads met in the Elite 8, it was the Hawkeyes who came out on top, in large part thanks to Clark’s 41 points and 12 assists. Iowa now gets to face No. 3 seed UConn in the Final Four.
Caesars, bet365, BetMGM and DraftKings all confirmed that, in one way or another, LSU-Iowa was the most bet game in the history of women’s college basketball.
Caesars stated that the game’s handle was the biggest it had seen, a record previously held by last year’s LSU-Iowa championship matchup. DraftKings called it the most bet women’s game by both handle and the quantity of bets, while bet365 stated that the moneyline for that contest alone was the most bets it had ever seen from an NCAAW game.
That makes a ton of sense for bet365 since LSU-Iowa was the only matchup of two teams in bet365 legal states.
Perhaps the most encouraging for women’s basketball, however, was news from BetMGM. Not only was LSU-Iowa the No. 1 game for BetMGM ever, but the other Elite 8 game on Monday, UConn-USC, was the third biggest. No matter how you slice it, this was a huge day for women’s college basketball and a testament to the star power potential someone like Clark, Reese and Paige Bueckers can bring.
“LSU-Iowa was the most bet women’s basketball game ever, and UConn-USC was top 3. It was a special night for the game and for the sportsbook as we saw record handles in both pregame and live in-play action.”
– Seamus Magee, Trading Manager, #BetMGM pic.twitter.com/n1D3wBVGvL
— John Ewing (@johnewing) April 2, 2024
If you’re wanting to continue riding the train of the Hawkeyes, the Final Four begins Friday, April 5, with Iowa taking on UConn and South Carolina facing North Carolina State.
